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Tuesday, July 5, 2011

Damnable Heresies of the “Word of Faith” Doctrine

By Maria Merola

2ndKeefa (Peter) 2:1 But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying YHWH that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction.Notice that these false teachers and prophets will bring in these

deceptions “privily” (privately) or subtly, they will be undetected by the masses because they will mix in a lot of “good” teaching that sounds good. It is like masking a drop of deadly poison in a delicious bowl of chocolate pudding. One would eat the chocolate pudding and never know there was poison in it and die! And such is the case with the majority of Evangelists on Television.

I had a dream in March of 2002, where I was shown that these false shepherds are nothing more than “hirelings” meaning that they don't care for the sheep. They are in the ministry for the money, and when the “wolf comes” (Anti-Messiah) they will flee leaving the sheep alone and defenseless with the wolf. See my other article entitled:

“Prophetic Dreams About Cloning & Maitreya.”

Yahuwchanon (John) 10:

11 I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd gives his life for the sheep.

12 But he that is a hireling, and not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, sees the wolf coming, and leaves the sheep, and flees: and the wolf catches them, and scatters the sheep.

13 The hireling flees, because he is a hireling, and cares not for the sheep.

Most of the evangelists on television these days are nothing more than “hirelings” and I will expose the heresies that they teach to the masses. I will get a lot of “hate” mail and angry Christians hurling insults and threats because I expose these hirelings, but we are instructed to avoid those who teach heresy:Titus 3:10“A man that is an heretick after the first and second admonition reject…”

One of the biggest deceptions today in the church is this false doctrine called “Word-of-Faith.” This teaching actually has its roots in Mormonism and Freemasonry, yet it pretends to be genuinely biblical. Many in the church who profess to believe in the deity of Yahuwshuwa Messiah have subscribed to this heresy, unaware of what its tenets really are. My aim is to expose this insidious false gospel for what it really is and show it in the light of scripture as the same “lie” that the serpent beguiled Eve with in the Garden of Eden. The following are ten lies that Satan has effectively sold to the modern day church through this false gospel.

1.)So-called “revelation knowledge” (rhema) is placed above the written “logos” word of Elohiym:

Back in 2002 I woke up from a dream and I heard the voice of the Ruwach ha’Qodoesh (Holy Spirit) say to me “The Doctrine of the Nicolaitanes.”For many years I had wondered what this “Doctrine of the Nicolaitanes” is. This doctrine is one of “elitism” which purports that only a select group of people are able to receive knowledge from Elohiym. The term “Nicolaitanes” means “to conquer the people” and thus having “dominion” over them. These Nicolaitanes were “Gnostics” which in Greek means “knowledge.”Word-of-Faith teachers see themselves as having a commission to bring new spiritual revelation to the Body, and they belittle “the simple child-like faith” of others as inadequate. In this scheme, it is not sin and disobedience that causes us to fail, but ignorance of the word. This revelation knowledge is limited to the few who can receive it and everyone else is at a disadvantage. But Elohiym tells us that not many “wise” men after the flesh (man’s wisdom) are called into the ministry, but Elohiym has chosen the things which are despised so that no man can glory in his presence:1stCorinthians 1:25-28Becausethe foolishness of Elohiym is wiser than men; and the weakness of Elohiym is stronger than men. For ye see your calling, brethren, how thatnot many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble,are called: ButElohiym hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and Elohiym hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; And base things of the world, andthings which are despised, hath Elohiym chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are:That no flesh should glory in his presence.

2.) Almighty Elohiym is a weak “faith-being” who is at the mercy of his own universal laws:

Although Word-of-Faith ministers speak of Elohiym in a personal way, they treat Him like an impersonal “energy source” with “forces” that can be operated by the use of laws. These are “laws” which even Elohiym has to obey in order to create and run His universe. They say that Elohiym has left the control of planet earth in man's hands and he is powerless to intervene without a covenant partner. This discredits Elohiym as a sovereign and omnipotent Elohiym who can do his own will as he sees fit, and it makes him a “genie in a bottle” at our beckon call when we decide to “name it and claim it.”

3.) Yahuwshuwa Messiah was merely a born-again man who had to die in Hell to pay the price for our treason:

According to WOF doctrine Yahuwshuwa, left his divinity in heaven and came to earth as a mere man filled with the Holy Spirit. They say he had to use the word and the laws of faith to do miracles. They purport that when he died, his blood did not atone, but he had to take upon himself the very sin-nature of the devil, causing his spirit to die. They say he suffered three days as a sinner in hell, before the Father gave the command for him to be re-created as a re-born man. Thus, they say, Yahuwshuwa was just the first of many sons, the pattern for us all to follow.While it is true that Yahuwshuwa “went into the lower parts of the earth,” according to Ephesians 4:8-10, he did not go there to atone for sin or suffer as a mere man. The Bible goes on to tell us that his purpose was to “lead captivity captive…and he gave gifts unto men.” In other words, he took away the “keys” from Satan that held us captive to sin, and he gave his free gift of salvation to men. It says nothing about Yahuwshuwa suffering in Hell as a mere man. Yahuwshuwa had already made atonement on the cross, and when he gave up his spirit, his last words were “it is finished” indicating that he had accomplished that which he had come to earth to fulfill.

Ephesians 4:8-10 Wherefore he says, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men. (Now that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth? He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that he might fill all things.

Yahuwshuwa ascended to heaven but he first descended into the lower parts of the earth (Hell) to take “captive” Satan's power which held us “captive” to sin. That was his purpose for going there—not to suffer as a mere man so he could be “born-again.” He was from the beginning “Elohiym…. the word became flesh…”---Yahuwchanon (John 1:1)

Yahuwshuwa was from birth and throughout his earthly life “Immanuel” which means “Elohiym with us”--- Mattithyahuw (Matthew 1:23). Yahuwshuwa came to earth as both 100% Elohiym and 100% man all at the same time. He was “in the Father and the Father was in him…” (John 14:10) Yahuwshuwa even told us that he and the Father “are one” (John 10:30). Yahuwshuwa is the “Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending…” (Revelation 1:8). He is Elohiym and he came to earth as “Elohiym in the flesh.”

Yahuwshuwa went to the lower parts of the earth to preach the gospel to all of those who had died prior to his death on the cross as they beforehand had no means of atoning for their sins:

1st Keefa (Peter) 4:5-6 Who shall give account to him that is ready to judge the quick and the dead.For for this cause was the gospel preached also to them that are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to Elohiym in the spirit.

He did this to give all people an opportunity to hear the gospel and to repent and be saved. Those who had died before Yahuwshuwa’s sacrifice on the tree were given the same chance to be saved as those who are alive today and they will likewise be judged in the same way as “men in the flesh,” meaning men in their mortal bodies. There is not a word of scripture that says that Yahuwshuwa went to hell to suffer as a mere man!

4.) Man is equal in deity to Yahuwshuwa Messiah:

The problem with this “Jesus died-spiritually” doctrine is that all born-again believers in Messiah stand in the same place of power and authority as Yahuwshuwa --- not by virtue of their unity with Him, but in themselves, as men filled with the Spirit. This would mean that we have already been resurrected from the dead and it only remains for us to gain “knowledge” (gnosis) of our new condition in order to discard the trappings of the fleshly body and begin living as spiritual “gods” on earth! The scriptures clearly tells us that the gift of the Holy Spirit is the “first-fruits” ----a “down payment” so to speak of our salvation, but the “redemption of the body” is the final completion of our salvation:Romans 8:23 And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.

Thus, the walk of the follower of Messiah according to Word-of-Faith doctrine is one of education in using the same spiritual laws as Yahuwshuwa (Jesus) in order to dominate the circumstances and do miracles. In Word-of-Faith teaching, believers do not depend on Elohiym’s own power, nor submit to his will, but feel they have the right to develop their own powers, and to discover the laws governing creation and dominion on the earth.

The scriptures tell us that we are “seated with Yahuwshuwa Messiah in heavenly places” according to Ephesians 2:6,but that is when we are “abiding in him---the vine.” This does not occur in and of ourselves. The Bible never tells us that Yahuwshuwa “died spiritually” although it tells us that Elohiym sent Yahuwshuwa “in the likeness of sinful flesh” (Romans 8:3) because he was tempted in everything as we are yet without sin. This means that Yahuwshuwa had a nature that was “like” ours, yet because he never sinned, he never “died spiritually” nor did he ever need to be “born-again” spiritually.

Romans 6:6 declares that Yahuwshuwa “destroyed the body of sin” indicating that his body took our sins---not his spirit. The Bible tells us in 1st Keefa (Peter) 2:24 that Yahuwshuwa bore our sins “in his own body,” but it never says that Yahuwshuwa bore our sins spiritually by taking on the nature of the devil!Yahuwshuwa was “born-again” physically when he resurrected from the dead and “put on incorruption” (immortality). WOF teachers use the fact that Yahuwshuwa was “anointed with the Holy Spirit” at his baptism as “proof” that he needed to be born-again. But the fact is that Yahuwshuwa already possessed the anointing of the Holy Spirit before his baptism as indicated by the first miracle he did before his ministry was to begin at the wedding of Cana where he turned water into wine. The “anointing”of Yahuwshuwa was for the sheer purpose of him being manifested and “revealed” to Yisra’el as their Messiah.

4.) Man can become a “god:”

To understand the special position that WOF gives to man, we need to know their interpretation of the Creation. In their teaching, man HAS NO NATURE OF HIS OWN but takes his nature from his “Lord.”When Elohiym was his Master, then man had a divine nature, for he was created as Elohiym of the earth, they say. But after man’s fall, he took the sin-nature of the devil and became like Satan. (All this, of course, is contrary to scripture). So, Word-of Faith believers would reason that a born-again man has regained his divine nature. Thus, he is entitled to use the attributes of his divinity, such as creative powers and domination of the environment etc. While Elohiym did indeed create man “in his image” and likeness it does not mean that Adam and Eve had Elohiym’s nature. Even the serpent told Eve this lie that if she would eat the fruit which Elohiym had forbidden them to eat that she could become “as Elohiym---knowing good and evil.” If Eve already possessed the nature of Elohiym, she could not have been tricked by the serpent, because Elohiym cannot be “tempted with evil” as the scriptures tells us. The fact that Eve was “drawn away of her own lust” proves that she did not possess the nature of Elohiym. Adam and Eve possessed a human nature that was pure and innocent “like” that of Elohiym’s nature-----but not Elohiym’s nature in its fullness.

Ya’aqob (James) 1:13-14 Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of Elohiym: for Elohiym cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempts he any man: But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.In Acts 14 after Sha’ul (Paul) healed a man, the people said, “The gods are come down to us in the likeness of men.” Here was a perfect opportunity for the apostle Paul to teach the doctrine that “Christians are gods.” But the Apostle Sha’ul (Paul) rebukes them for saying this and denies that he or Barnabas are “gods.”In fact the Bible says:

“….. When the apostles, Barnabas and Paul, heard of, they rent their clothes, and ran in among the people, crying out, And saying, Sirs, why do ye these things? We also are men of like passions with you, and preach unto you that ye should turn from these vanities unto the living Elohiym, which made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all things that are therein.”The apostles were outraged at being called “gods” yet this is what Word Faith teachers preach from pulpits.

6.) Mankind:

Word-of-Faith teachers stress the loss of dominion over the earth, not sin, as the root problem. So, salvation becomes a matter of re-discovering one’s place of godhood and learning to rule as kings on earth. The role Yahuwshuwa had to play in redemption was that of a substitute Adam, coming to earth to fulfill all that Adam failed to do, demonstrating the possibilities of dominion, and then taking Adam’splace in Hell to let mankind “off-the-hook.” The worship given to Yahuwshuwa by Word-of-Faith believers is more from a sense of gratitude than recognition of His divinity. It also misses the whole point of redemption: that Yahuwshuwa HIMSELF is the Life and Salvation of mankind and that we are only saved in union with Him.

Scripture tells us that Yahuwshuwa was the “second Adam” in the sense that he came to “un-do” the damage that Adam caused by allowing Satan to have dominion thus making us slaves to sin. But this doesn’t mean that Yahuwshuwa took Adam’s place in Gehenna (Hell). Like Mormonism which teaches that Adam started out as a man but then “ascended to godhood,” Word-of-Faith teaches the same thing.

7.) The goal is the transformation of the earth by spiritual dominion:

Because Word-of-Faith believers see themselves as having returned to their god-like dominion of the earth, they foresee the time coming when, by sheer force of numbers, probably that all mankind will have to bow the knee to Elohiym. They teach that all the wealth of the world will flow to the Church, and that the laws, government and entire social structure of the world system will have to change. Despite scriptural warnings of apostasy and increasing wickedness in the end-times, they foresee a great victory for the Church in the future, as the Spirit sweeps millions into the “kingdom” on earth. Whether or not they claim to believe in the end-times plan of Revelation, the Rapture, the Millennium or any of these things, they still seem to be able to fit a scheme of global Church unity and triumph into the plan of the ages.8.) It replaces prayer with confession, and Elohiym’s will with the manipulation of “forces:”

Word-of Faith teaches Christians to draw upon powerful “forces” that reside in the human spirit (this is the very same teaching of Hinduism and Eastern Mysticism). They say that the force of “faith” will bring certain laws into operation. But “faith” we are told is a gift from the Holy Spirit---not something we inherently possess of ourselves. They emphasize the word (not the Son of Elohiym, but the scriptures) as the power used to operate all these spiritual laws. And so, learning and confessing the word continually is the method used to obtain anything we want. This self-rule leads to pride and greed. But a follower of Messiah must deny himself and submit to the entire will of Elohiym, as revealed moment-by-moment by the Holy Spirit.9.) Word-of- Faith denies the reality of sin and sickness:Even though Yahuwshuwa healed the sick and commanded us to do the same, there are times when a believer isn’t healed in this life, but is being called home to Yahuwshuwa. Yahuwshuwa indicated that some are sick “so that the glory of Elohiym might be made manifest” by their healing, while others are sick “unto death.” And others are sick because they are being chastised or judged. There are many reasons why people are not always healed, but it is not always due to “lack of faith.”

10.) It focuses on self and the world instead of the Creator and Heaven.

The emphasis in Word-of-Faith doctrine is all on success, prosperity, advancement, gain, health and strength. There is little compassionfor those who fail to come up to these standards of wealth and health. Any adversity is said to be a “lack of faith” to “confess the word.”

But Elohiym tells us that if we refuse to share in the trials, setbacks and persecutions of Yahuwshuwa, we are not ready to share His glorification (Romans 8:17). Many Word-of-Faith teachers and ministries have brought reproach to the name our Messiah Yahuwshuwa as they have ended up in greed and manipulating believers into giving money they can’t afford to give. Over-emphasized teaching about Elohiym’s healing has led to extravagant claims for miracles that have been exposed as hyperbole and sham.Doctrines self-will and the use of psychic powers to perform miracles instead of about man’s godhood and superhuman abilities have led to arrogance, a simple dependency on the Holy Spirit have become rituals and formulas for producing instant results, and those who do not adhere to their false doctrines are derided and rejected as “having no faith.” Many people have testified to their bad experiences, both personally and corporately, with Word-of-Faith extremes and excesses. Indeed, the very root of this teaching is bad, coming as it does from Christian Science and the meta-physical schools of thought. These false teachings in the church are even further proof that we are in the “last days” as the scriptures foretold that these characteristics would be evident when people would become “lovers of themselves” and elevate themselves to the same status as Elohiym (gods):

2nd Timothy 3:

1 This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come.

2 For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,

3 Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good,

4 Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of Elohiym;

5 Having a form of righteousness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.This “other gospel” being preached by Word-of -Faith teachers causes one to exalt “self” as “Elohiym”and this is pure pride and arrogance as they are the very same words of Satan:

Yeshayahuw (Isaiah) 14:14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.

But Elohiym commands us to have no other Elohiym------including ourselves!

Debariym (Deuteronomy) 5:7 You shall have none other Elohiym before me.

* Note: Much of the research I did on this subject has come from Tricia Tillin of “Banner Ministries” in the United Kingdom. While I agree with Tricia Tillin on what she exposes here (having been in the word of Faith movement myself), I don’t adhere 100% to all the other things that she discredits in the body of Messiah (such as speaking with tongues etc). I believe that we can “glean” truth from individuals yet still disagree with them on other things. I let the Holy Spirit and the word of Elohiym guide me in what I accept and do not accept as “truth.”

Below is the website for Tricia Tillin’s expose on “Word-of- Faith” heresies:

2 comments:

I used to be a WOF adherent but thanks to a Presbyterian minister I came to realize the error in it. I still have a few things I hold on to though. One is that I believe Jesus suffered in Hell. The bible says that the "wages of sin is death". I take this to mean spiritual death. If Jesus bore the sins of many which he did then the wages or result of those sins must have been spiritual death. When Jesus said "It is finished" I have always understood that to mean His work on earth that the father gave him to do was done. I believe while he suffered in Hell he tasted death for every man and fulfilled the part of the Mosaic law which spoke of Him as a burnt offering. I also want to point out that Jesus first miracle in Cana was done after he was baptized. Correct me if I'm wrong.

I used to be a WOF adherent but thanks to a Presbyterian minister I came to realize the error in it. I still have a few things I hold on to though. One is that I believe Jesus suffered in Hell. The bible says that the "wages of sin is death". I take this to mean spiritual death. If Jesus bore the sins of many which he did then the wages or result of those sins must have been spiritual death. When Jesus said "It is finished" I have always understood that to mean His work on earth that the father gave him to do was done. I believe while he suffered in Hell he tasted death for every man and fulfilled the part of the Mosaic law which spoke of Him as a burnt offering. I also want to point out that Jesus first miracle in Cana was done after he was baptized. Correct me if I'm wrong.